The scorching Henrietta Ford, blues/rock/raunch artist extraordinaire, nowadays performing cutback and solo as herself, Tyree Robertson, delivers her sensual brand of kiwi blues, rock and comedy. Renowned for her quick witted repartee, honesty of spirit, social commentary and wild woman vocals, she has been compared to Janis Joplin, Melissa Etheridge and Etta James with a Tracey Chapman sensibility.
A finalist for Top Comedian 1999 at the Classic Comedy Club in Auckland, New Zealand's premiere comedy venue, Tyree's delivery is always humourous with an acute sense of the world she lives in. It's rapier-sharp, quick silver satire without victims. It amplifies her musical mountainscape and calls us to a soft place where our minds and hearts may fall.
As Henrietta Ford, Tyree has pioneered for herself and other musicians, comedians and performance artists a place in Auckland's entertainment history. She's held residencies and ran the Henrietta Ford Stagecoach - a mixed genre performance evening - for three and a half years at Aucklands Javas Jive and Temple bars, the city's original live music venues.
In the ten years she's been working and touring as a musician, events producer, stage manager and music industry titan, Tyree says a highlight was opening the HERO gala one year, at the Civic Theatre, with her six-piece band and a backdrop of Dykes on Bikes, marching girls and two women wielding grinders on metal posts, showering the stage with sparks.
"I've done a lot of things in my time but getting a chance to play at HERO to the Prime Minister - and not get tackled by her security from the side of stage - was quite a thrill...." she says.
"In '99 I also had the pleasure of producing a women-only comedy show for Sweetwaters. I was able to ensure that comedians from all over the country were considered for this Auckland-based festival and three from Wellington were selected.
"As a performer and producer I've been controversial, loved and hated, embraced and abandoned, uptown, downtown. I've played the city lights and the city pavements. I've commented on the things other artists were too frightened to touch and made those things the common currency of the stage. I don't tow the line, I stamp all over it in the name of love and freedom."
The venues Tyree has hosted and performed in over the past seven years of her career have a large base of international visitors. Both industry and audience members from abroad comment often on her world class talent and performance ability, saying she is a highlight of their time here.
As well as her long-as-your-arm catalogue of impactful originals, Tyree also plants her taboo-breaking flag in such classics as "Sixteen Ton (Company Store)", John Lennon's "She Done Me" and "What do you get when you fall in love?" Lyrically, Tyree is a poet amongst pranksters, astonishing on-listeners with a delicacy bordering on the fragile in some ballads as well as an exceptional gift for memorable word/melody combinations. She is also a stunning solo instrumentalist using everything from open-tunings to sinewy blues-rock riffs.
She's a minstrel, a bard and a scoundrel on stage. She pulls no punches artistically or politically and yet she leaves no bruises. Tyree Robertson is a one-off entertainment experience un-parelleled in the kiwi music scene.
